Peter Lynch

Mon 29 January 2024 12:01, UK

West Brom defender Kyle Bartley was “lucky” there was no VAR for the club’s FA Cup encounter against Wolves.

That is according to BBC Sport journalist Simon Stone, who believes the player could have been sent off for a foul on Matheus Cunha.

Bartley was shown a yellow card for the incident in the 72nd minute of the fourth round meeting on Sunday (28 January).

Noting that Bartley was “lucky” there was no VAR, Stone wrote for BBC Sport (28 January): “It’s a good job there is no VAR in this game. Slowed down, I don’t think that incident involving Kyle Bartley would have looked good at all.

“Clearly there was nothing in his mind other than stopping Matheus Cunha. It was high. I am not advocating players to get sent off and in an atmosphere like this, it is part of the hurly-burly but I don’t think he would have survived Stockley Park’s involvement.”

Feisty

It was a feisty encounter at The Hawthorns to say the least, with Wolves coming out on top in the match on Sunday (28 January).

And one of the challenges that certainly caused tempers to flare was Bartley’s on Cunha, with the Baggies defender clearly blocking a run from the Wolves attacker.

Cunha’s teammate Craig Dawson took particular exception to the challenge as he remonstrated with the referee, but it was only a yellow card that was dished out to Bartley.

Cunha had the last laugh in that particular battle, with the Wolves star finding the back of the net shortly after to score his club’s second goal of the match, with Pedro Neto opening the scoring in the first half.

Sadly, much of the clash focused on the crowd trouble that ensued after that second goal from the visitors, with very ugly scenes taking place in the stands at The Hawthorns.

In other West Brom news, a Baggies star has seemingly mocked a former teammate as West Ham complete a new signing.

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